00:00But the Prime Minister himself said, if you cut one, plant a hundred.
00:06In my area at least, from the evidence I've seen, there seems to be a mission to cut a
00:12hundred and make very little effort to plant even one.
00:17So it seems to me that even the Prime Minister is being treated like a fool on a hill.
00:23Green activist Chandran Nair wants the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to explain why three trees
00:28which have stood outside his home in Bangsar for almost 40 years have been chopped down.
00:34Nair, also an entrepreneur, author and FMT columnist, said DBKL had claimed the trees
00:40were cut down to stumps because they were safety hazards.
00:44But we had an avarice of our own look at this a few months ago and he said it was only one
00:49branch and that was removed.
00:51So all of a sudden within three months the entire tree has been removed.
00:55He said the contractor responsible for removing the trees was unable to produce any documentation
01:01to justify why these trees were considered hazards.
01:05And when the trees are removed, it's very interesting, no one from DBKL is ever there.
01:10It's just a contractor.
01:11So as a public citizen, I have no ability to ask the question, who gave you the rights?
01:17Where's your paperwork?
01:19There's nothing.
01:20Where did the wood go?
01:23DBKL, if you're watching, please give us an answer.
01:27In his recent FMT column, Nair pointed out that a growing number of trees were being
01:32felled in the Greater Klang Valley.
01:34He questioned how these operations are being funded and where the valuable timber ends up.
01:40He said poor oversight could lead to illegal practices, which could see the timber funnel
01:45into the biomass industry and enter the black market.
01:49Over the past year, Nair has taken matters into his own hands, planting over a hundred
01:54saplings to replace felled trees.
01:56Many now thrive along the streets of Bangsar.
01:59There's more than 200 stumps just in the Lucky Gardens area in Bukit Bangsar where
02:06things have been cut over the last 10 years.
02:08You have never turned up.
02:09I'm not accusing them of anything apart from you got much better at doing this.
02:15So I come here to say we're going to challenge you.
02:18We're going to make you accountable.
02:20You're accountable to us, not to yourselves.
02:23Natasha Biest, FMT News.
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